Those meetings are the first occasion for the bloc to grapple with the implications of last week’s United Kingdom vote to leave the union.
Advertisement
Merkel spoke on Monday after meetings with French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and EU President Donald Tusk that were overshadowed by divisions on Brexit.
“The most important thing right now is that we settle back into a period of stability”, he said.
“We agree that there won’t be any informal – or formal – talks about Britain’s exit before the European Council has received the exit application”, she said.
Speaking at a Christian Democratic Union party executive board meeting, Ms Merkel said the financial markets are very concerned that the EU is no longer governable.
Merkel, Hollande and Renzi will attend an European Union leaders summit in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday alongside counterparts from the other remaining 24 European Union member states.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he will leave the task to his successor when he steps down in October.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on June 26 she would do whatever it takes to keep pro-EU Scotland in the bloc, including potentially vetoing legislation on a British exit.
“Politicians in London should take the time to reconsider the consequences of the Brexit decision – but by that I emphatically do not mean Brexit itself”, Peter Altmaier said.
The focus should be on internal and external security, counter-terrorism and protecting the EU’s external borders, she said, adding that “a second focus is on the economy, growth and competitiveness”.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, meeting with European and British leaders Monday, warned EU members against being vengeful.
Nickel said there were now “competing forces” at work in the EU with leaders split over the direction of the bloc – towards more political union (a founding EU principle) or more economic unity as a single market.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will meet in Prague with his counterparts from the so-called Visegrad group – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary.
The top diplomats of the two core European Union founding members and biggest economies said “Germany and France have a responsibility to strengthen solidarity and cohesion within the EU”.
A state that wishes to leave must send a formal notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which sets out the broad mechanism.
Advertisement
Mr Osborne, in an early morning speech on Monday created to calm investors before the start of trading, said he had been in touch with “fellow European finance ministers” and others “so that collectively we keep a close eye on developments” as the full impact of the Brexit vote plays out in the markets.
